Genuflecting

Tim Tebow is a quarterback for the Denver Broncos and an evangelical Christian. Lately he has been in the news because he drops to one knee and prays after a touchdown or special play, presumably in thanksgiving to God. This posture, which looks like genuflecting, has been called “tebowing,” and it became front page news when the Broncos began winning in the final minutes of a game.

For those of us who participate in specific gestures and postures as part of our practice of religion, this is a good time to ask questions about what we do: questions like Why do we do this? And When and where did this start?

A gesture is a form of non-verbal communication in which visible bodily actions communicate particular messages, either in place of speech or together with spoken words. Before children can even form words, they are able to communicate non-verbally and make a connection between non-verbal actions and words and feelings. This is why making the sign of the cross or bowing can elicit feelings of awe and reverence, even in young children.

From early times, genuflection, which is bending at least one knee to the ground, was a gesture of deep respect for a superior. In the third century B.C., Alexander the Great introduced a form of genuflection into his court, a gesture already in use in Persia. In medieval Europe, respect for a king or noble was demonstrated by going down on one knee. Nowadays, on television and in movies in western cultures like ours, genuflection can be seen during a proposal of marriage. The custom of proposing on one knee goes back to the days of knighthood and chivalry when it was customary for a knight to dip his knee in a show of servitude to his lady and await an indication of her favor.

The Latin word genuflectio, from which the English word is derived, originally meant kneeling rather than the dropping to one knee and immediately rising that became customary in the Middle Ages.

The General Instruction of the Roman Missal defines when genuflecting is appropriate: "A genuflection, made by bending the right knee to the ground, signifies adoration, and therefore it is reserved for the Most Blessed Sacrament, as well as for the Holy Cross from the solemn adoration during the liturgical celebration on Good Friday until the beginning of the Easter Vigil.”

Gestures and postures like genuflecting can help us cultivate a proper reverence toward Christ in the Blessed Sacrament and help us remember the sacrifice Jesus made for us. Additionally, if we have the information to explain why we do what we do, they can also be tools for evangelizing others.